


Unravelling Mysteries

by LovelylilKitten



Category: Gravity Falls, Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Gravity Falls AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-15 07:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4598301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelylilKitten/pseuds/LovelylilKitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Gravity Falls AU with the characters of the show Hunter x Hunter</p>
<p>Gon is to spend the summer in Gravity Falls, which was meant to be time for him to visit and spend time with his father. Not only does Ging rarely show his face, the trip ends up being much more eventful than stereotypical father-son bonding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The story takes the characters of Hunter x Hunter and puts them in a Gravity Falls-esque universe. Places, locations, and even some species are different from those in Gravity Falls.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Gon had been planning this for months, making messy lists of all the things he’d need to remember because he didn’t want to forget. He kept making them because either the older ones were too messy to read or just plain got lost. After going through a whole notebook’s worth of paper rewriting it over and over, Mito had written her own list in secret.

The weather was warmer as the early June air was settling in. School had recently freed its students from their bonds, allowing them to engage in summer activities. Many of the kids in Gon’s class were either staying home or going on a family vacation. He didn’t really remember nor did he care really about what they were doing. He was more focused on his own plans.

They were nearly finished packing his suitcase when she asked him that question. In all honesty Mito would prefer he not do this. Years ago, her trash can of a cousin had moved out of state without a word, and 20 years later he came back to drop a baby on her stoop with barely a hello and goodbye to her. No one else in their family had even known he was in town until she told them, and to boot she had a baby to raise when she was barely an adult herself.  
Fifteen years later, that baby was staring at her with big brown eyes, full of excitement. She was one of the few people who knew him well enough to see the uncertainty lying within him as well. She didn’t want see him get hurt if Ging was not up to his expectations or if Ging neglected him.

“We could always try to get the money for your plane tickets back if you’ve changed your mind.” She tried to be assuring. “Be honest with me.”

Gon looked at the contents within the luggage he was kneeling next to. There was a week and a half worth of clothes that he’d be able to wash. Along with that there was his toothbrush and other toiletries, some first aid supplies, medications, an umbrella and plenty of other things. Gon’s Nintendo 3DS and phone were in his backpack with a light jacket and contact information Mito had written out for him as a just in case.

“Gon, talk to me,” she urged him again.

A few more moments of silence came from him before he finally figured out what he wanted to say. “Mito, I really appreciate that you care about me, but this is something I feel like I need to do.” He got a nod from her in response. “I need to go there and see what he’s been doing. He’s my dad, so I should at least try this.”

Mito gave another hug before zipping up the suitcase. Once they were both standing she took him into her arms, embracing him tightly. It’s the first time they would ever be apart for so long, and she loved the kid just as if her were her own son. In all honesty she despised his father but she wouldn’t let her bias ruin things for Gon. For some reason it seemed like he looked up to Ging and had respect for him. If anyone was going to ruin things it had better be Ging instead of her.

Gon said his goodbyes to their Grandma Abe as Mito put Gon’s things in the car so she could drive him to the airport. The ride to it was quiet, Gon’s anxious vibes resounding within the closed space. It was a comforting quiet at the same time. The radio played softly and Mito was humming parts of songs she recognized, just like when he was a lot younger. After a while Gon calmed down slightly, but once they reached the airport they came slamming back.

Checking in was mostly handled by Mito, giving the woman the suitcase so that it could be put with the rest. After that was handled she turned back to Gon, who had never been to an airport in his life before. His fascination with everything was distracting him from his worries from what Mito saw, and it made her feel better, the knot in her own stomach loosening slightly.

“Okay here’s your ticket. Keep this in your bag until it’s time to board. Once you get through security you should eat something, so here’s some extra money for that. Don’t use the emergency money I put in your backpack unless absolutely necessary. Remember to chew gum on the flight to relieve the pressure. Ging should be waiting by the luggage carousel to pick you up when you land. And-“

“Mito, I’ll be fine.” He smiled wide at her, and she couldn’t resist smiling back. Gon latched onto her in another hug, letting her pat his head. It was the last time he would see her in a few months, so he was getting in as much affection as he thought he would need to last him that long. When he had enough, he released her and took a few steps back. “Will you wait until I get through security before you go?”

“Of course sweetie.”

She waited on the other side of the rope while he was in line to get his ticket checked out by a man sitting behind a small desk. After that, he would need to put everything through the xray machine and walk through the metal detector. Before walking through he gave a final wave to her before disappearing into the crowd of people looking for their designated gates.

The flight wasn’t as bad as Gon had heard about. Sure there were some crying babies but he could easily drown it out. He’d been so into playing Monster Hunter that he barely noticed when the plane landed at its destination. Once again his nerves came back to him, but he was even more excited.

It took far too long for him to get off of the plane, everyone sluggishly crawling down the aisle, one man accidentally hitting a woman with his carryon when taking it out of the overhead. After about ten minutes of bouncing and whining he was finally out of the plane and into the airport. Now all he had to do was find the luggage carousel, grab his suitcase, and finally meet Ging.

He walked at a strangely slow pace towards where the signs pointed above him. He was really gonna do it. He was getting his chance to meet Ging. He took the photo that Mito had given to him out of his backpack. She had said it was dated but he’ll know at least what Ging might look like. He looked sort of like an older version of Gon, but with small differences. They both had dark hair, tan skin (though Gon’s seemed tanner), and brown eyes. He really must be Ging’s son.

When he reached the carousel Ging wasn’t there. Gon blamed traffic since the town that Ging was living in was apparently pretty far from the airport and decided it would give him more time to try and settle himself. His suitcase took far too long to make an appearance and he ran to it as soon as he spotted it, apologizing to the other tourists as he bumped into them before it ended up taking another loop. After that all he had to do was sit down and wait.

He had just pulled his 3DS back out when he heard a voice call his name from behind him. He slammed the handheld console back into the pocket of his bag and jumped out of his seat. Ging was here! He finally got to see Ging! He was finally meeting-

A tall gangly man with long white hair.


	2. Chapter 2

The man with white hair was named Kite.

Apparently Ging had been too busy to come to the airport to pick Gon up, so he sent a colleague of his in his stead. Kite knew the poor kid would be annoyed to see him instead of his father, but when he tried to tell Ging that he only half listened and continued working. He’d sighed and got on the road because if he had tried to argue further then he’d be even later to pick the kid up.

They dropped the suitcase in the trunk of Kite’s car and drove off. Their current destination was about an hour and a half drive away, so if Kite didn’t break the ice now then this would be a very awkward summer for him.

“So you’re Ging’s… son, Gon. You really do look like him.”

“…Hm? Oh, yeah.”

Gon was barely paying attention. What a great start to this relationship.

“I’m sorry your dad couldn’t come to meet you. He got caught up in a lot of work right before he was supposed to leave…”

“I get it,” Gon nodded.

“You know, your father is a really important man. Originally he came to town to work on his research, but after a while he ended up on the town’s Council.”

The excitement he’d seen in Gon’s eyes when he’d thought he was Ging seemed to be returning. That was good at least. A nice place to build on.

“You work with Ging, right?” Gon asked. Kite nodded in response, not wanting to take his eyes off the road while on the highway. “What exactly does he do?”

“What kind of responsibilities does he have, you mean? Well, as a part of the city council, he helps to make decisions about things happening in the town. It’s kind of a like a smaller version of the country’s government. Mayor Netero is like the president and his council is his congress in a matter of speaking. The main difference is that generally if Mayor Netero wants something, the council has a hard time stopping him if they disagree.”

“Do they all get along?”

“Well… no they don’t. Not at all.”

“That’s good.” Kite raised an eyebrow at that, so Gon continued. “That way, no one feels obliged to lie to each other about their ideas to stay on someone’s good side.”

“Hmm, I never thought about it like that before.”

Gon wiggled in his seat for a moment before talking again.

“So you said Ging does research?”

“You don’t know much about him do you.”

“Nope!”

He couldn’t help his chuckle when it came out. The kid had never known let alone seen his father but was still interested in him. He must have some strong self-esteem, since most people tend to be fragile during their teenage years.  
“Well you see, your father studies things and does different experiments. One of the main things he studies is ancient architecture and ruins.”

“Is that why he came to Gravity Falls?”

“Exactly. There’s a lot of run down places and caves and plenty of other things for us and any other colleagues to explore around the area. There are plenty of woods to cover where things are hidden.”  
“Have you ever gone on expeditions with him before?”

“I have, yes, though I have some of my own research that I work on.”

“Do you guys get paid?”

“A lot of our research is funded by the state, but sometimes we have to cover some costs ourselves. We get a salary on top of that, so that makes up for it.”

“That’s cool! You guys get paid to go on adventures! That’s really cool!”

Gon’s comments made Kite smile. “Yeah, I guess it is kind of cool.”

“Not kind of cool. Really cool!” Gon was beaming. “Maybe I could go with you guys on one of those things.”

“Maybe,” Kite chuckled. “We wouldn’t want to put you in danger. Your aunt would fly here to kill us if we got you hurt.” He’d spoken to Mito a few- most of the time whenever she called. Ging said that she’d yell even if he did pick up, so he always made Kite deal with her. Her temper aside, she was a strong and good person in Kite’s mind. It was a good thing that she was quick to anger when it came to these matters to pick up for any slack that might have come from their side of the deal.

Though Ging was really busy, he did want to see Gon at some point. Kite remembered him murmuring something about trying to do as much work as he could now so maybe he had some free time to take the kid out for ice cream of something. Make the kid happy.

“If we know that it’s safe for absolute sure, then we’ll take you along, how about that?”

“Aww that’s no fun! That means that someone would have already gone in! The danger is what makes it cool anyway!”

The ride went by a lot faster now that the two were friendly. The two talked about some of the things that Ging and Kite had worked on, and Kite asked some questions about Gon’s life. Gon seemed to always bring things back to Ging’s work though. He was determined to learn about the man.

Before they knew it they passed by a sign saying “Welcome to Gravity Falls”. Gon’s attention was back out the window, taking in the sights of the town. Kite didn’t bother trying to start up more conversation at this point, and let the kid take it in.  
They passed through the town, though the route they were taking didn’t take them through the heart of it, Gon could see a good amount of it. It was pretty small compared to what he was expecting, but that was also good because back home he could pretty much walk anywhere he needed to. Another minute or two and they crossed onto a dirt path up to a rather large house.

“Is this where Ging lives?”

“Kind of. Ging isn’t here more often than he is. He tends to wander around a lot.”

“Like a hermit?”

“Yeah...”

“Ah.”

The two stepped out of the car after it was parked and pulled Gon’s luggage from the trunk before going inside. The interior didn’t have too much of a homey feel to it, the walls lacking paint and a lot of the rooms were filled with papers and equipment rather than normal furniture. What seemed like it was meant to be a living room was full of different samples of rocks and plants that either meant to be examined further or sent out to others interested in the research. The “kitchen” was full of dirty plates and dishes, sacrificed to make more time for other various activities.

The upstairs was significantly less messy, as it was probably more convenient not to carry all of their research material up and down multiple flights. Most of the doors were open, the inside of one appearing to be rather organized with a desk with different files next to a monitor. This was where Kite and Ging did conference calls over the internet to try and not look like total slobs to their various colleagues.

The doors to three rooms were closed, two of them being bedrooms (even though Ging never used his own) and the other a guest room that was empty just a few months ago. Gon set his suitcase on top of the bed and his backpack against the dresser. Kite watched as Gon looked around, looking and touching the desk and turning the television on but not watching it, moving on to other parts of the room.

“So I’m sorry that I can’t really show you around town right now. I have to get back to work. Do you think you’ll be fine on your own?”

Gon looked around a few more second before turning around and giving a bright eyed nod in reply.

“Good. I’ll uh… see you later then. I don’t know if Ging’ll be finished with his stuff by then but if he’s not I’ll take you to dinner.”

“Mmkay! Thanks a lot Kite!”

Kite was back out of the house within a few minutes, probably grabbing some more supplies. Through the window in his room Gon could see him climb into his car before driving back down the dirt road.

Gon pulled out the phone Mito had gotten him before he left. He insisted that he didn’t need a smartphone, but she told him that Ging wanted to him to get one and he’d cover the costs. She told him he wanted him to consider it as present, and Gon stopped complaining in that instant.

He dialed their home phone number, listening to it ring a few times, before hearing Mito’s voice at the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mito!”

“Gon! I was starting to worry! Why didn’t you call when your plane touched down?”

“Sorry, I kinda forgot to. I got excited.”

He pictured her face as she sighed, figuring it would be one of annoyance and relief.

“It’s fine. I’m glad you remembered to call at all at least. How is Ging?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he sent that guy Kite to pick me up.” He paused as she groaned loudly. He could hear Abe in the background telling her to calm down. “Kite said he was stuck at work and wasn’t able to leave.”

Another sigh. “Well, you’re safe and in Gravity Falls, right? That’s all that matters at this point. Ging’ll have to show his face at some point.”

“Mhm! And when he does I’ll be ready for him.”

“You make it sound like you’re going to fight him!” Mito laughed.

“No I don’t wanna do that!” He was happy to hear her relaxed and happy.

“I know. Sweetie, remember, if there’s anything wrong and you want to come home, you can call, okay?”

“I know Mito. Don’t worry about me.”

“Right. Anyway, I have to go. I’m making dinner and I’ll need two hands in a second.”

“Okay! Say hi to Abe for me!”

“I will. Bye Gon. I love you.”

“I love you too!”

Then the two hung up and Gon was left to figure out what he was going to do for the rest of the day.

The more Gon thought about it, the more he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay inside all day in an empty house. He grabbed a few things out of his bag before heading downstairs so that he could try to find his way down the road and into town and go exploring. He wanted to see what it was like and what the people were like, if they’re mean or if they’re nice. It’d be great to make a few friends too so that he had people to hang out with over the next few months.

There had been a key left on the small table near the front door, which turned out to be a house key meant for Gon so that he could lock and unlock the door as he pleased. Mito probably let them know how hard it was to keep him cramped up inside.

After locking the house up, Gon started his way down the side of the road towards town.


	3. Chapter 3

 

It wasn’t too far of a walk to get there. It probably took around fifteen or twenty minutes even while taking things slowly. Though he had never really been into playing sports as a kid, not being into all the different rules put in place keeping him from doing the things he wanted to. He didn’t care much for sports anyway, whether it be the teams his school hosted or on television, so it was a lost cause. Aside from that, he was an extremely athletic kid, often going for runs in his spare time or climbing trees behind the house back at home.

He made his way past the bagel shop and further towards the heart of the town, figuring that he’d get the best feel of the atmosphere at Gravity Falls’ visible core. There were a large amount of people out, walking around, in and out of buildings or sitting on benches on the sidewalk. Coming out of the café he saw a girl with reddish hair chewing gum with a laptop tucked under her arm. He made a turn before passing it and could see a buff man handling the fitness balls through the window of the gym.

Down the street at the hospital he could see a man with light pinkish-orange hair pacing back and forth, probably worried for a friend or a loved one inside that had been injured. Another turn and he saw a bald guy with weird eyebrows leaving the library with a bag stuffed with different texts. After passing the Police Station he found himself near the shopping complex, various different stores in front of him. Before he could think about entering any of them, he heard someone yell something and immediately turned to whoever made the noise.

 “Hey! You must be new around here!” The man came over towards Gon, a friendly smile on his face. He’d caught Gon by surprise and so a startled expression arose on his face.

 “Ah, how did you know?”

“I’ve lived here all my life. I know pretty much everyone in this town.” He reached into his bag, pulling out a can. “Would you like a juice? It can get pretty humid around here in the summer so I make sure I keep some extras for other people.”

“Thank you, that’s really nice of you!” Gon took the juice from the man, fiddling with the tab on the top.

“That’s amazing! I live in a pretty small town too, but I don’t even know half the people that live there.”

“Give it a few years and you’ll get there, don’t worry,” he laughed. “What brings you to Gravity Falls?”

“Well my dad lives here, so I came to visit him.”

“You on your way to see him?”

“No not right now. He’s busy at work and even if Kite had told me where he is it probably wouldn’t be a good first impression if I interrupted him.”

“Kite huh? Is your dad Ging?”

“Yeah! You know him?”

“I told you, I know everyone here!” He paused for a second, thinking about something, and then returned his attention to the kid in front of him. “You know, I could give you a tour of the town if you wanted, let you know about some of the history of it and everything. It’s possible we’ll pass your dad too.”

“Would you really?”

“Yeah, sure.” Gon began getting ready to walk again, but was stopped when an arm crossed in front of him, preventing him from moving forward. “Woah, woah, woah, not so fast. Are you carrying money on you?” Gon nodded. “It’s probably not best if a kid like you is carrying that yourself. Some people here aren’t all that nice and might see you as a target, being new here and all. They might try to pickpocket you.”

“What? That’s not good!”

“No, no not at all. Why don’t you let me hold onto it for you? I know how to handle those kind of people, so they usually don’t mess with me.”

“That’s really nice of you! Here, give me a second.” Holding the juice with one hand, Gon used the other to reach into his pocket, pulling the money Mito had given him out. “Here you go.” He stretched out his arm to hand it to-

“DON’T EVEN TRY IT!”

Both of their heads turned to see another man running at them from down the block at top speed, a scarily angry expression on his face. He was breathing heavily as he went, skidding to a halt when he finally reached the two before grabbing the hand that held Gon’s money and shoving it into Gon’s chest.

“DO NOT GIVE THIS GUY ANY OF YOUR MONEY. ARE YOU AN IDIOT? HE’S GOING TO RUN AWAY WITH IT ONCE YOU GIVE IT TO HIM!”

“Aw come on Leorio,” the man said, his hands up in a defensive position, “he’s just a kid, I would never do that to him-“

“TONPA, THE POLICE STATION IS RIGHT THERE. I KNOW WHAT YOU WERE TRYING AND IF YOU KEEP PLAYING INNOCENT I WILL DRAG YOU THERE MYSELF.”

“C’mon, calm down. I wouldn’t hurt him. Just ask him yourself.”

The kid in question was now spilling out the can of juice after giving it a whiff, to both men’s shock.

“Hey, wait kid what are you doing?” Tonpa was attempting to keep his composure under pressure but his façade was beginning to break.

“It smelled funny. I think you might wanna check the expiration dates in these because they might have gone bad.”

Leorio’s furious expression slowly slid back towards Tonpa, who was now breaking a sweat.

“YOU TRIED TO POISON A CHILD? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”

“It wasn’t poison! I swear!”

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU.”

“Okay, okay, it may have been a small amount of… laxatives or something.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

Gon watched as Tonpa ran down the sidewalk, Leorio yelling at how he would be arrested for sure this time once he spoke to authorities. He continued steaming a few moments, before a taking a deep breath and forcing himself to calm down and bringing his attention to the boy next to him.

“Sorry about him. He does this a lot. For some reason the guy likes to prank tourists and steal their money.”

“If he’s stealing, then why isn’t he in jail?”

“You’re asking _me_? I’ve been trying to figure that out myself!” Fingers rubbed at his temples, a headache forming from both the running and the screaming.

“So you live here too?” Gon asked.

“Ahh yeah. Let me introduce myself. I’m Leorio, Leorio Paladknight; soon to be the richest man in the world!” He moved his hands to his hips and stuck his chin out, attempting to appear confident. It didn’t help that his face was all red and his head was throbbing.

“Nice to meet you Leorio. I’m Gon Freecss.” He stuck his hand out to shake the man’s hand.

“Nice to meet you too.”  He smiled. “Hey, so instead of getting scammed, how about I give you a tour for free?”

“That’d be nice. Thank you!”

“No problem, I gotta make sure nothing else bad happens to you. Why would you consider giving your money to a random stranger being a good idea anyway?”

“Well, he said that we might see my dad on the tour, so I figured that meant he knew where he would be when he wasn’t working.”

“Ah, are you here to visit him? Who’s your dad?”

“Ging!”

“... Well, how about that tour.”

“Okay!”

“Wait don’t throw that can on the ground. You should put it in recycling.”

 

They two spent a good while walking around the town, Leorio making anecdotes to tell stories about the different places Gon asked about. They sat around in the park as Leorio pointed the strange proximity between the school and Church being because some Christian mothers made complaints about how difficult their lives were since the Temple was closer to the suburbs and school than the Church used to be. The town relocated the church a whole three blocks just to make them shut up. On the other hand, because the church was now so close to the park, often times the kids would sneak out and hang out there. The Jewish families couldn’t care less about the predicament, since at least there was a new bagel shop being built next to the temple at the same time. The dojo that had been built by the school years earlier hadn’t been affected by any of this at least.

Farther at the other end of town had different stores, all with strangely off brand names. Working on a paid internship in the town’s council building, Leorio had seen the council members leave and come back with different items from the nearby pet store. Cheadle must have a lot of dogs since she buys so much dog shampoo.

Going even farther there was a gas station and motel, but that part of town wasn’t that interesting so it got skipped over for the most part. The lake had a lot told stories and plenty of untold ones, just like the woods around here. Most of those stories were just either tourist traps or hallucinations by people who went outside when they were drunk.

When Gon seemed to be satisfied with the tour that Leorio was taking him on, he offered to get the two some apples to share from the grocery store before he walked Gon back over to Ging’s house. As they walked outside and started on their way, someone bumped into Leorio’s side, causing the apple to fall to the ground. The noise Leorio elicited was of pure annoyance as his frustrated expression from earlier that day returned. He turned and grabbed the cause of it, turning him around.

“Hey, buddy, when you bump into someone you’re supposed to apologize!”

The person in question stared at him, expression blank aside from mild surprise and confusion.

“Hello? Do you speak English? I’m talking to you!”

“I’m sorry, I’m just trying to understand why I should apologize if you weren’t watching where you were going.” His expression darkened, mirroring Leorio’s annoyance. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d unhand me.”

“Are you SERIOUS?” Steam seemed to be escaping his ears as they grew red hot along with his cheeks. “IF *YOU* HAD BEEN PAYING ATTENTION YOU MIGHT NOW HAVE MADE ME DROP THAT APPLE? DO YOU CARE AT ALL ABOUT THAT WASTED MONEY?”

“Is it actually possible to be that cheap? I thought characters like that only existed in cartoons.” The stranger at that point grabbed Leorio’s hand and used enough force to move it that he could have dislocated his shoulder, which made Leorio yelp in pain, stepping back and rubbing at his now sore appendage.

“Hey.”

The stranger looked down to see a kid wanting his attention. “My name is Gon. What’s yours?”

“I’m Kurapika. It’s nice to meet you Gon.” The two shook hands as Leorio attempted to calm down enough to form coherent sentences again.

“I’ve never even heard of you, let alone seen you. Do you even live here?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I work for the council, I think it’s some of my business.”

“Fine. I moved here. I live here now. Satisfied?” Kurapika forced a smile, the rest of his face showing loathing for the other man.

“Very.” Leorio copied the expression.

Gon called to the two of them again, breaking them out of their staring contest. “What’s that building over there behind the gate? Leorio didn’t talk about that one on the tour.”

“That’s the Zoldyck mansion, which houses the richest family that lives here,” Leorio walked to Gon, looking where Gon stared and gently putting a hand on his shoulder. Kurapika looked up as well, walking to the other side of Gon, helping in explanation.

“They are rarely seen leaving the estate, having a large amount of butlers to service and shop for them.”

“I’ve heard that their guard dog is more a monster than a domesticated pet and has even eaten a few of the tourists.”

“They also say that all family members are trained to be assassins from the time they are children.”

“All of that’s a bunch of superstitious bologna though,” Leorio shook his head. “This place can be a real tourist trap sometimes.”

“Yeah,” Gon said, “there’s no way someone could have that many butlers.”

“No Gon that part is true.”

Leorio looked up at the sky and then to his watch. “Ah it’s getting late. I should walk you home to make sure no one else tries anything on you.” Gon nodded in response, and then Leorio looked to Kurapika. “And don’t make me feel like I’ll need to report you for disrupting the peace.”

“Oh don’t worry about me. As long as you don’t bother me you won’t need to worry about that.”

“Good, I’ll see you around then.”

Leorio and Gon started walking again, stopping briefly as Leorio picked the apple back up and muttered that it might still be good is he washed it when he got home. Gon looked at the Zoldyck mansion again as they walked around the corner. In one of the windows he could see what appeared to be a young child with long black hair looking out the window at him. Suddenly his throat tightened and he faced straight ahead again. He told Leorio he was fine as he seemed to notice something was up, but something was strange.

Did that kid’s face change for a second?


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was still pretty high up by the time Leorio got Gon back to Ging’s house. Once Gon had unlocked the front door, opening it, Leorio said his goodbyes and went on his way back into town. He probably wanted to make sure he’d be able to make the walk back to his own house before the sun set. Gon stayed in the doorway until he couldn’t see Leorio anymore out of courtesy.

There were no signs that Kite or Ging had been back, and it didn’t seem like either one would be back for a while, so he decided to sit in the kitchen for a few minutes just in case. He kept looking at all of the research materials littered throughout the others rooms visible from where he was. All the various samples and equipment seemed worn from use over time, one or two pieces possibly new to replace ones they had abused just a little too much over the years. It made Gon think back to the conversation he’d had with Kite in the car about their work, realizing how much more he wanted to know.

He ran up the stairs and grabbed his backpack, a few items from the first aid that Mito had packed him, and a pocketknife that had been left on the island in the kitchen. Then he came back downstairs, leaving the house and locking the door behind him before heading around back, entering the woods. Overhead the evergreen trees seemed taller than any of the trees back home probably much older.

He passed a few rocks and boulders, climbing up a few to jump off of them, seeing if the fall would hurt his legs at all. He could recognize a lot of the flora that grew around the area, as they had those in the woods behind his house. The smell of flowers like lavender brought him to when he was a child, pretending to be an explorer, asking his mother for books on plants because he wanted to know what was safe to touch and eat.

The sound of a stream nearby reminded him of camping trips Mito took him on when he was a little older. She would use the stream to clean their pans from cooking meals and for if they needed to wash clothes at all. Mito had even been the one to teach him to catch and clean a fish so you could eat it without choking on bones or scales. Their family was made of fishermen so it didn’t come off as a surprise that she knew how to handle seafood so well, knowing which fish you wouldn’t want to eat the skin of and when certain kinds of fish were more so in season and bound to be cheaper, let alone fresher.

It was true that Gon was homesick. He was wandering because he wanted to feel like he was still home, hoping to make sure he would be able to handle this time away from his mom and his great grandmother. Surely they would be able to survive without him for a few months, so he should be able to do the same.

Ging’s house was still somewhat visible in the distance. Gon made sure not to stray too far so that he could find his way back easily if he heard someone calling for him. There was no need to cause unnecessary worry to anyone, especially on his first day here.

That’s what he thought before he saw what looked like the lost leftovers of an explosion.

Curiosity got the better of him at this point, and his investigation began. There were pieces of broken wood with burned edges, yet covered in moss and rot due to exposure to the elements. Some metal shrapnel, and plenty of other rubble that Gon couldn’t quite place also littered the area. Carefully placing each step to avoid any broken glass, he couldn’t help but wonder what happened around here to cause such a mess.

How long had all of this been here? It couldn’t have been recent. Did something happen years ago? Was all of this already here before Ging came to Gravity Falls? Maybe that’s why he came here, trying to figure out the cause for himself. It may have been the first of many things he studied and experimented on in this town.

The age began to register in Gon’s head as he surveyed the wreckage as he noticed some vines wrapping around and embracing different pieces of wood and some of the pieces of metal, rust taking the metal bits. Nature was trying to take back this area from whatever caused destruction, and probably had been trying to for a while, struggling to succeed over time.

One particular pile of rubbish caught his eye. A feeling deep down in his gut made him feel as if it had significance the closer he came to it, a strange feeling that he didn’t understand enveloping him. He began digging, throwing whatever was in front of him out of the way. He didn’t know why he was doing it. Gon was on some sort of autopilot, doing as his instincts instructed, body following orders without asking any questions.

Finally he stopped, the pile dismantled and parts scattered about. Gon tried to figure out why he decided to do this and what importance to this action there was before noticing a strange book. He knelt over and picked it up, brushing the dirt away.

The book was rather large, Gon thought to himself, about as big as one of his textbooks, maybe bigger. The cover was red, pieces of the paper ripping off from use and wear. The corners were plated in a yellow metal, what kind he wasn’t sure. There was no title to tell him what the book could possibly be about, no information about an author. There was just a gold colored tracing of a handprint with six fingers and the Arabic number three written in black ink.

After finding a steady rock that wouldn’t hurt him if he sat on it, Gon began flipping through the pages. The first page had Gon realize that it was a research journal, the author speaking about the excitement of finding all of the mysteries of Gravity Falls and how they wanted to record them in a series of journals. For a second Gon thought that the book belonged to Kite or Ging before realizing that the date of the first entry wouldn’t make sense if it did. The year was too long ago for it to have been either, so the book had probably been lost for a long time beforehand.

He flipped through a few more pages, seeing descriptions of fantastical creatures and species he never thought existed. There were pages talking about creatures called gnomes, some talking about demons, others describing really silly creatures as well. There were even pages about different kinds of magic. Gon found it amusing that someone would write something like this, staging it to sound like scientific research for someone gullible to find.

However, when Gon looked up, he saw something strange: one of the creatures he’d flipped past in the book. A small fairy hovered in the distance, touching the petals of a flower, plucking the ones that suited her interests and storing them in a small bag she had constructed. Gon quickly flipped back to the page about fairies, skimming the information as he got up to get a closer look.

“Fairies are small creatures with wings strong enough to carry them wherever they need to go. The emotions they feel are rather simple compared to the complex emotions apparent to humans. Be careful blah blah blah blah be nice blah blah. They can be kind but blah blah blah biting blah blah…”

Gon was careful enough that the fairy hadn’t noticed him yet, still preoccupied with gathering flower petals for whatever project she needed them for. He watched for a few moments before attempting to interact with her, trying to pick some flower petals and handing them to her. All she knew however was that while she was in the middle of working a giant hand came out of nowhere in front of her face to give her a tiny heart attack.

“Ah! I’m sorry!” Gon yelled as she put her hands to her chest to try and calm herself, taking small breaths in and out. She flew backwards a bit, trying to distance herself from him, obvious fear in her eyes. “I just wanted to help and give you these.” He continued to try and give her the petals, now somewhat crushed between his fingers.

She continued to back up even as he insistently stepped toward her. All of a sudden her facial expression snapped from that of fear to that of rage as she changed her course to fly straight at him, nearly biting those stubby fingers of his off. Gon yelped and pulled his hand back before she could do any real damage.

“What was that for? I was just trying to help!”

All he got was a hiss in reply, a rather rude hand gesture, and then she was gone.

With the fairy gone, his attention was back on the book. Okay, so it wasn’t a total hoax and had some real basis to it. The author probably had to do a lot of studying to understand the different creatures so well, and it would probably do Gon good to actually read it rather than skim to save himself to trouble of hurting himself since this guy probably already had.

Fingers rubbed lightly at the cover of the book. Maybe he should show this to Kite or Ging. Have they come across any of these creatures? Is it possible that for all these years they’ve never come into contact with them? If not it’s possible this journal could help them during their studies, knowing how to interact with different things when they came across them. It’s even possible that Ging had been writing his own journal on this and could even add to what the author of the book Gon held in his hands.

The sun was low in the sky at this point and so Gon figured he should start heading back. He stuffed the book into his backpack to make things easier for himself as he climbed through the rubble again, climbing and jumping off of rocks as he’d done earlier for the sake of doing it. As he neared the house he noticed Kite’s car in front and wondered if Kite had been calling for him while he had that encounter with the fairy. When he went inside he was relieved to see that Kite had only gotten back just a few minutes earlier, placing his bag on the table and pushing away a pile of paperwork he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with. Kite looked up when he heard the door close behind Gon and smiled at him.

“Ah, I see you found the key. I forgot to tell you about that.”

“Mhm, thank you for getting it made for me!”

“It’s no problem. Did anything interesting happen today?”

“I went into town and this guy tried to steal from me, but then Leorio saved me and gave me a tour. He ended up getting into a fight with Kurapika, not a fist fight, an argument. Then Leorio walked me back here to make sure I was okay.” Gon left out the part about the child in the window.

“Ah, you met Leorio. He’s a good kid, sometimes helps me deal with your father.” Kite finished rummaging through his bag and leaned back, looking at his phone and checking for any work related emails. He sighed at all the spam he saw. “You look a little dirty to have just been in town though.”

“Oh, well no one was back yet, so I walked around the woods a bit.” He hesitated. “Hey, Kite? Did something happen? There’s a lot of broken stuff lying around over there.”

“Oh that,” Kite closed his eyes and groaned. “Well you see, years ago, me and your father were working on an experiment with some different chemicals we found in a cave a far way from here. We weren’t able to tell what they were made of through normal means, so were trying to get results in an unconventional way and…”

“And?”

“We ended up causing an explosion that caused the city to blackout.” Kite laughed when Gon gasped and added to the story. “That rubble you saw out there is probably parts of the house that got blown off before we had to rebuild. It took a lot to get the city off our backs after that. We were lucky that Ging was on the council so he could fight any complaints that came about us.”

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah we’re fine. Don’t worry about it.” He stretched as he stood back up, a few of his joints popping. “Now how about we get some dinner. You’ll probably like Menchi’s Diner, she’s a really good cook.”

“Ah yeah- wait!”

“Is something wrong?”

The weight of the book at Gon’s back reminded him of how he thought of giving it to Kite or Ging earlier.

“Um, Leorio told me that there are rumors about strange things happening around here?”

“Strange things? What you mean like those stories about monsters in the lake?”

“Yeah.”

“They’re all pretty much fake. No one has proof to back up their stories, so it’s most likely not true.”

“You’ve never seen anything… strange around here?”

“No I can’t say I have.”

“I see… Hey before we go let me just put my bag back in my room.”

“Yeah.” Kite raised an eyebrow as Gon flew back upstairs. “Clean yourself up a little while you’re up there! You’re covered in dirt!”

Gon closed the door behind him as he got to his room and pressed his back against it, breathing heavily. Why didn’t he give the book to Kite? Did he change his mind about it? Was he afraid Kite wouldn’t believe him about it?

He placed the bag on the bed and looked at the book again. There were so many interesting things in there that he wanted to know about. He wanted to learn about all the different creatures that were illustrated within the pages. If he gave the book to Kite he might not be able to. For now, he’d hide the journal from Kite and Ging. For now, it was his. Maybe at another point he’d share it with them, but for now he was going to be selfish.

He was going to do some research of his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for another chapter to come out. I haven't had a lot of time to write lately with the school starting up again.


	5. Chapter 5

It was weird to wake up in an unfamiliar room for the first time. It scared Gon for a bit in his disoriented state, but as his memory came back to him of the day prior he calmed down. Sitting upright and rubbing at his eyes to get the sleep out of them he looked around at the room. His suitcase was open and a lot of his belongings had been strewn from when he was searching for his toothbrush.  Rolling out of bed and stretching his muscles, sore from sleeping in a new mattress, he tried to wake himself up completely. He wanted to be able to get himself to the bathroom without falling back asleep. At the least he could do his normal morning routine if everything else was different.

A few minutes passed and he walked back into his borrowed room with a towel around his neck, hair wet from splashing water on his face. Picking through the items all over the floor for something to wear, he unburied the journal again. Getting dressed was now forgotten as the book had caught his interest once again, and he jumped onto the bed, wanting to read more about the different creatures within the town.

Not being too fast of a reader, Gon only finished reading about Gnomes before his stomach rumbled and he decided to get back to his routine. After dressing himself and brushing his hair, he put the book under his pillow. He attempted to put his things into some of the drawers in the room before going downstairs to see what could be done for breakfast. On the fridge there was a note made out to him.

_Hey,_

_Sorry that we couldn’t wait for you to wake up. We needed to get a new sample for one of our studies because our last one got contaminated. There should be some eggs and milk in the fridge if you want that for breakfast. We aren’t sure how long it’ll take us to redo our experiment so we might be back late._

_Kite_

Gon sighed and threw the note out so if Kite and Ging returned early they’d know he’d seen it. To be honest he kind of expected this would be the case, a bunch of circumstances preventing him from spending time with Ging. Hopefully he’d get his chance some point soon.

Just as Kite had written, there were eggs and milk in the fridge. To his relief there was also a clean pan for him to use. Mito had been teaching Gon to cook since he was little, so some over easy eggs weren’t a problem for him. There were a few clean plates left for Gon to choose from but he decided to just eat from the skillet instead to make cleanup a bit easier.

While he was scrubbing his pan in the sink when he finished eating the mess in the kitchen started to bother him. He’d been brought up to clean up his messes to save trouble for later. A look at the clock told him it was nearly nine in the morning. Figuring he had no real plans and plenty of time to spare he tackled all of the dirty dishes and pans that the adults hadn’t had the time to get to during their busy schedules. The next time he looked at the clock it was a little after nine thirty, the last glass being placed into one of the cupboards. He hoped he had put everything where it was supposed to be.

There was a buzzing in Gon’s pocket and he pulled out his phone

He slid his finger across the screen to unlock it, a message. During the tour the man had insisted that they trade numbers so that they’d be able to keep contact while Gon was in town. The text in question was Leorio offering to hang out again during his lunch break, a happy face at the end. Fumbling with the touch screen keyboard, Gon slowly typed a short reply, stating “Sure!” He felt bad for not including a cute face but he wasn’t sure how to insert those.

It didn’t take Leorio too long to respond, saying, “I should be out around noon. Meet me @ the council building then.”

Gon typed a quick- well, as quick as he could- “ok” before pocketing the phone again and running back up the stairs. He grabbed a few things and stuffed them into his pockets so he’d be okay to head out. He took another look at the book before replacing the pillow that hid it. He wanted to read it but he wasn’t sure about bringing it into town, especially with how pessimistic Leorio was about the kind of things that the journal was dedicated to. It would be hard to get him to believe the things said in the journal unless he had physical evidence of its existence. Kurapika might be easier to talk more with on it. He seemed more willing to think about the subject before rejecting it completely.

He grabbed his key and ran down the stairs, unlocking and locking the door, and began towards town. He looked at his phone to see the time and it was still before ten, so he figured he had time to just walk around before he’d meet Leorio. The man pointed out the park next to the pool the day before and remembering this Gon decided to see if there was anything going on around there. It was a Thursday so there probably wasn’t anything going on at the church.

He could see some people swimming in the pool, a few kids splashing at each other while their parents relaxed in the lounge chairs or on rafts in the water. Aside from that the area was empty, probably because most parents were at work and their kids were at home.

The park seemed to be completely empty as well from a distance. The closer he came he could notice one of the swings on the swing set was moving- a few more steps and he could see the person on it better. Gon himself was in no good position to wonder why the kid was alone for obvious reasons.

The kid seemed annoyed, looking at the ground with his brows drawn together, swinging lowly. Lost in thought, it shocked him when all of a sudden Gon jumped onto the swing next to him, grabbing tightly onto the chains.

“Hey,” the kid said, “That’s not how you use a swing. You’re supposed to sit in it.”

“I wanna do it like this though. It’s more fun.”

“Fine, do what you want, if you fall off because you’re dumb enough to stand on the seat it’s not my problem.”

Gon continued swinging his own way while the kid tried to ignore him. Gon wouldn’t have any of that.

“You seem upset.”

“No shit. What gave it away?”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t really know you so I’m pretty sure it’d be weird for both of us if I just started ranting about all of my problems. Wait, do you even live here?”

“Nope, I’m here to visit my dad!”

“How old are you?”

“I’m fifteen. I’m gonna be sixteen soon though.”

“Huh, you’re the same age as me then.”

“That’s cool! I know there’s a school here but I was starting to think there was no one my age here!”

“Oh I don’t go to that school. I get homeschooled.”

“Ooh what’s that like?”

“Are you really interested?”

“Mhm!”

“It’s pretty annoying. To be honest I’d rather go to public school. When you’re homeschooled the people that teach you tend to breathe down your neck to make sure you’re doing homework or studying. At least I convinced my parents to let me have summer breaks like other schools have.”

“That seems tough.”

“It is.”

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself! My name is Gon!”

The kid looked up fully from the ground for the first time and looked at Gon. “Killua.”

“So now we know each other a little bit. Wanna tell me what’s wrong now?”

Killua sighed. “Fine, I’m annoyed at my family, but what else is new.”

“Did something happen?”

“My parents have these dumb expectations for me to take over the family business. My mom’s way too pushy about it and screams at me for not doing everything she wants me to do, then cries when I do.”

“Do you have siblings that might wanna do that instead?”

“That’s the annoying part. I have two older brothers! Most families tend to wanna give their businesses to the oldest child, but my parents never really considered them!”

“What are they like?”

“My brothers? Well, my oldest brother Illumi is way too overprotective sometimes. He doesn’t even want me to leave the house. I mean I guess he means well but I wish he’d back off. Milluki is a fucking nerd though. All he does is stare at a computer screen and he spends all of his money on anime figures. I have a younger sibling, Kalluto, but they follow our mom everywhere and does whatever she wants them to do, no questions asked.”

Gon nodded.

“I also… I… “ he stared at into space for a second before shaking his head and rubbing at his temples with one hand. “Great now I have a headache.”

Gon cocked his head to the side. “I’m an only child, so the idea of living with siblings is weird.”

“It’s weird for me all the time.” Killua stabbed at the ground with his foot, pushing off to try and swing at the same height as Gon. “You said you were here to visit your dad?”

“Yeah! I’ve never met him before, but the more I hear about him, the cooler he sounds!”

“What’s he like?”

“Well, like I said I still haven’t seen him. He’s pretty busy with work. He does experiments and adventures into the woods. He’s on the Council too. He seems really cool!”

“My dad’s probably cooler, honestly. He’s super good at his work and is super buff to boot. Someday I’ll be just as ripped as him and I’ll have people all over me.” Killua courageously released the chains of the swing to flex his arms, showing off his nonexistent muscles.

“Well with the way things are right now I’ll get to that point before you.”

“Excuse me!? I’m way stronger than you!”

“Whatever you say Killu-AH!” He lost his balance and fell backwards off the swing, landing flat on his back. Killua was laughing hysterically as Gon curled up so to rub his hands on the now tender part of his back that collided with the rocks below.

“That’s why you don’t stand on the swing dumbass!”

“Killua that’s mean!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Though he apologized the fact that he was still laughing showed he wasn’t really sorry. Killua went over to help Gon get back to his feet, calling him a baby and saying to walk it off.

For a long while Gon and Killua talked about their lives with each other. Gon talked about his hometown and about all the cool things Mito taught him like how to start a campfire or how to navigate in a forest. Killua showed Gon his skateboard and taught him how to keep his balance, though Gon fell off once or twice. They spent so long like this that when Gon pulled out his phone and looked at the time he freaked out.

“I’m gonna be late!”

“Late for what?”

“I was gonna meet someone for lunch but I’m gonna be late. I have to get going!”

Gon started getting up and pocketed his phone again. He looked behind himself and Killua was trailing behind, which confused him.

“I don’t have anything to do so is it okay if I come too?” Killua asked.

“I mean, I guess. I’m sure Leorio would be fine if I brought another person.”

“Let’s get going then. I’m starving.”

With that the two started running towards the council building. After a minute or two it turned into a race to see who was fast and who had more endurance. It surprised Gon that Killua had as much stamina as he did, but it made him happy too. Killua was worthy competition.


	6. Chapter 6

Leorio finished repacking his briefcase and fixed the clasps. From the other room he could hear screaming between members of the council as they argued on yet another matter. Cheadle had called out sick today and so she wasn’t there to keep order between the other members that actually came in. It could have been worse though. Thankfully that morning Ging had called out and a while after Pariston had done so as well. If those two were here without Cheadle’s supervision the town might as well be on fire. 

It was nearly noon and Leorio figured that no one would notice if he left a minute or two early. He put his suit jacket back on, grabbed his briefcase and started heading out. It was nice that even though he was an intern, Mayor Netero was kind enough to let him have his own office. The only downside was when different council members tried to use the little intercom on his desk to contact him all at once for different things. It was almost as bad as if they were right in front of him.

He stepped outside and fixed his tie while leaning against the building. He looked at his watch again, as he had nothing else to do while waiting for Gon. From around the corner he could hear different people yelling in surprise, and then two kids appeared and were coming straight toward him. Before they had the chance to trample him they skid to a stop.

“I was first!”

“No way!”

“Uh, yeah! I totally beat you by a foot.”

“Nuh uh! Killua and I tied! Right Leorio?”

The man in question just stared at them, confused about what exactly was going on. “Um, I’m not sure? You guys kind of caught me off guard.”

“So there’s no way to prove that I didn’t beat you, so that means I did!”

“That’s not how it works Killua!”

“Whatever.”

No longer willing to argue about the outcome of the race, Gon turned to Leorio. “Oh, Leorio, meet my friend Killua. He’s coming to lunch with us!”

“Wait, Killua?” Gon nodded as Killua crossed his arms, seeming to know where this was going. “There is no way he’s coming.”

“What do you mean Leorio?”

“I’m not taking this Zoldyck kid out to lunch.”

“Wait, Killua is part of the Zoldyck family?”

Killua nodded.

“Wow, Killua is so cool!”

“Gon, you shouldn’t be hanging out with him.” Leorio glared at Killua as he spoke. “The Zoldyck family is dangerous.”

“Leorio, I didn’t thought you didn’t believe the Zoldycks were assassins.”

“No, I didn’t mean- They’re dangerous for other reasons.”

Killua rolled his eyes. “So you’re a wimp afraid of a family with a little bit of money. What, do you think if you take me out to lunch then my family will sue you or something?”

“Quit it you little gremlin!”

“Wow, you think I look like a gremlin. I’m hurt. You’ve wounded me Leorio.” Killua brought a hand to his heart and draped his other arm over his head. “My father will be hearing about this!”

Before Leorio could say anything, a familiar voice from behind him said, “Wow Leorio, fighting with children? Have you no shame?”

“Ugh, not you again!” He turned and saw the blonde head he was hoping wouldn’t be there. “I thought I made it clear I didn’t want to see you again.”

“You did, but then I found out you’re only an intern working for the council and don’t hold any power if any over me, so I figured it was safe to show my face.” Kurapika smirked to Leorio’s dismay. Everything was going sour.

“Fine, annoy me all you want. But at least know I’m not THAT much older than these guys.”

Everyone grew silent.

“Well, how old are you?” Gon asked.

“I’m 22.”

“Oh… I thought Leorio was older.”

“Ah, what made you think that? Do I just seem mature for my age?”

“Oh, that’s not it…”

“Well,” Kurapika started, “You just seem-“

“You look like an old man,” Killua stated bluntly. “Though we probably should have realized you weren’t since you abuse your aftershave like its soap.”

Leorio huffed in annoyance, not willing to be insulted further.

Gon tugged on Kurapika’s sleeve. “You should come to lunch with us too! Leorio’s taking us all out!”

“Well, if Leorio’s paying how could I possibly refuse?”

“I NEVER SAID I WAS TAKING ANYONE ASIDE FROM GON!”

Before Leorio knew it he was sitting at a booth at Menchi’s Diner, Killua and Gon sitting on one side and Kurapika next to him on the other. At least it wasn’t the most expensive place they could have gone, so hopefully everyone would be kind and get something cheap. However, there was no such luck, as one kid ate enough to fill the stomach of an army, and the other kid was spoiled by his rich family. Kurapika was tempted to screw Leorio over further but decided against it as the bill would already be pretty hard to look at.

“So how has your stay been so far?” Leorio asked Gon.

“It’s been cool. I found stuff leftover from when Ging blew the town up!”

“Oh yeah, that. That was an annoying time. He somehow managed to blow the town’s power for over a month. Now pretty much everyone in town has a generator just in case he does it again.”

Gon shoveled some more food into his mouth as he nodded. When he looked at Killua it seemed like he was eating a little fast than him, so he quickened his pace. Soon it turned into another race to see who would finish their food first. Kurapika and Leorio tried their best to get the two to slow down, but the kids wouldn’t listen. When they finished what was on their plates, they began arguing about who came in first place. They didn’t get anywhere before needing to run to the bathroom, Leorio running after them and telling Kurapika to see if they had any disposable cups in the back that they could borrow.

Kurapika ran into the bathroom with two plastic kid’s drink cups Buhara grabbed for him and found Leorio caring for the two boys. He held back Killua’s bangs as he leaned over the toilet with one hand and rubbed Gon’s back with the other as he berated them for not listening to him. Gon tried to apologize and Killua tried to mock Leorio but their faces turned back into the bowl as the continued vomiting.

There was Leorio’s money going down the drain of a bathroom stall.

Faces were to be cleaned off and water was to be gargled from the cups Kurapika brought before Killua and Gon were allowed out of the bathroom. Gon did as told but Killua   
made a fit about it. Gon said he’d make sure Killua would clean up so Kurapika and Leorio were free to go back to the booth.

“Hey, Leorio?”

“Hm?”

“I’ll split the check with you if you want.”

“No, its fine, I can probably manage.”

“No really, I want to help cover the costs. Consider it an apology.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize for anything, don’t worry about it.”

“I insist!”

“Fine! I’ll let you split the damn check! Happy?”

“Very.”

Leorio called the waiter over to tell him to bring the check over for them, figuring that the two boys in the bathroom wouldn’t want to look at more food with the current circumstances. Kurapika and Leorio did the math on how much each of them would pay and waited for the waiter to make another round to pick it up.

“With the way you were upset about that apple yesterday I figured you were cheap, so it’s pretty strange that you’d be fighting me to spend more money.”

“Well they were two different things. Yesterday you made me nearly waste money. This was a matter of pride.”

“Why does it matter so much?”

“I’ve got a lot of student loans I need to pay back. College is expensive and I also want to go to medical school at some point.”

“Are you finished with school?”

“Nah, I still have another year in the program I’m in.”

“So that’s why you took the internship with the Council?”

“Yep. Not only was it good for college credit, but they offered to pay me minimum wage for it. It’s nowhere near what the official members make but it’s a good start.”

“If that’s the case, why did you take us all out for lunch?”

“Well, the plan was for it to just be me and Gon but you guys wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Its fine, it’s fine. Hey, yesterday you said you’d just moved here. You living in the suburbs down there?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What made you decide to move to this place? No offense but a lot of people have their reasons for coming to a small town like this.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“I just told you something about me so you need to make it fair and tell me something about you!”

“I told you where I live, isn’t that enough.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Fine, here’s my address.”

“That’s not the same!”

“Okay fine, I came here looking for someone. I don’t want to divulge too much about it, since it’s not as lighthearted as Gon looking to spend time with his dad.”

“How about we turn this into a guessing game then!”

“How about we don’t.”

“Come on Kurapika, have some fun! Is it a family member?”

“No, it’s not. No more questions.”

“Is it an old friend?”

“No. Stop that.”

“An old acquaintance?”

“No. Please stop, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Sorry, I got curious.”

The door to the bathroom opened and out came Killua and Gon, both looking better than just a few minutes earlier, but still a little sick. They sat down as the waiter took back the check to make sure they gave proper payment.

“Sorry Leorio,” Gon said.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“And Killua is sorry too.”

Killua huffed, which got him a hit in the arm from Gon. “Ow!... Sorry.”

Leorio nodded, telling them it was okay as long as they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do this again. He knew that the promises coming from the boys were probably empty, but didn’t push things further.

The tip was given and the four of them left the restaurant, Leorio needing to get back to work and Kurapika having his own business to attend to. This left the two boys alone again, trying to find ways to entertain themselves. The found themselves at the dock by the lake, bare feet dangling, toes grazing the water.

“Hey Killua.”

“Hm?”

“When is your family expecting you to get back?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really care either.”

“Do you wanna come over maybe?”

“What? Do you mean have a sleepover?”

“Yeah! I wanna get to know Killua better. Killua seems really cool.”

“I don’t know. We literally just met.” He grasped at his shirt. “I don’t know if I’m ready for such a leap in our relationship!”

“Killua!”

“What is that in friendship terms anyway? Second base? Third maybe? It’s too much for me!”

“Killua~! Come on!” Gon pouted at the other boy. “Do you want to or not? Answer me!”

“Well, I guess I have nothing better to do. We just can’t do it at my place, so we’d have to go to your dad’s.”

“Okay! I probably have to ask him or Kite if it’s okay later. Are your parents gonna be okay with it?”

“Probably…”

“Then it’s settled! Tonight we have a sleepover!”

“Hm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I've been so busy this semester I have not had chance to write for this in such a long time! Now that it's ending I have a little window to write before I have to start cramming for finals. I promise that I'll start updating more often soon!


	7. Chapter 7

There was no way for him to say no in this situation without looking like a bad guy. Gon’s big eyes looked up at him as he waited for a response, a giant smile plastered on his face. Looking to the side he saw Gon’s new… “friend’… sitting in the chair in the corner of Gon’s room, an eyebrow raised as if daring him to say no. The whole situation was uncomfortable for Kite and even though he didn’t want Gon to be hanging around the Zoldyck heir, he didn’t feel he was able to reject Gon’s request.

“Please can Killua stay the night? You won’t have to worry about us bothering you!”

Kite sighed and nodded his head. “Fine, but if there’s any trouble I won’t be going easy on you two.”

“Thank you Kite!” Gon ran up to him and gave him a hug. Kite pat Gon’s head, refusing to take his eyes off of Killua. Killua seemed to understand what Kite meant, as he glared back but slightly nodded his head. A silent agreement between the two of them, a secret from Gon.

The oblivious Gon released Kite and smiled up at him. “I promise we won’t ruin your work! It’ll be like we aren’t even here!”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just going to be working with the XRF analyzer to look at what some of the rock samples we collected are made of.”

“The X.. R.. F…”

“I can tell you about what it is another time.” Kite gave Gon a pat on the shoulder. “By the way, Killua, did you bring anything with you?”

“Huh?” Killua got confused. “What d’ya mean?”

“Did you, you know, pack anything? A change of clothes or something?”

“Nah, Gon said I could borrow his stuff if I promised to return it.”

“What about a toothbrush?”

“I just told you. I’m borrowing Gon’s stuff!”

“I… Okay then.” Kite was not ready to have that kind of a talk with teenagers, neither of which were even his own kids, so he would just leave things at that. Gon had only been there for nearly two days and already Kite felt like he would be reaching a breaking point at some point soon.

Kite said his goodbyes and closed the door, leaving the two kids to their own devices

“So,” Gon said, spinning around until Killua was in his line of sight. “What does Killua wanna do?”

“Hm… Well, you got a TV in here. Do you know what channels there are on it?”

“I don’t think I’ve even turned it on yet.”

“Do you think that maybe your dad and Kite have access to _those_ channels?”

“What do you mean?”

Killua started chuckling. “You know, the porn channels. Two single dudes living together, it wouldn’t be much a surprise if they bought those.”

“Killua!” Gon was flushing at the idea. “That’s bad! I don’t wanna think about that!”

“I was kidding,” Killua laughed. “I didn’t really mean it. I figured you weren’t like that anyway.”

“Oh! Okay!”

Gon looked around the room trying to think of something for them to do. “Hey Killua, do you like video games?”

“Duh, of course! What games do you have!”

“Do you have one of these?” Gon pulled out his 3DS from his bag.

“Oh yeah!” Killua exclaimed as he pulled his own from his pocket. “You wanna do something where we can fight each other? Or do something with co-op?”

“Well, I have Smash Bros. We could play that.”

“Oh cool! I stole that from my brother!”

After jumping onto Gon’s bed and getting comfortable, sitting themselves on opposite sides, the two turned their consoles on after inserting the games into the proper slots, letting everything load up. Killua chose to play as Lucario every round while Gon switched characters every fight, going from Samus Aran to Link to Mario to The Villager. Killua’s most frustrating defeat was to Sonic. The score between the two stayed fifty-fifty, an even amount of wins split between them.

After playing for about an hour, Gon leaned back against his pillow absentmindedly to get more comfortable. One can only sit up straight for so long, and Killua was already sprawled out over the bed, 3DS held high up over his head and legs kicking with every move he made in the game. Something felt wrong as he leaned farther back; something hard and thick on the other side of the pillow. Gon then remembered he’d placed the journal underneath it that morning.

“Hey, Killua?”

“Huh?”

“Have you ever seen anything weird around here?”

“What? Where’s this coming from?”

“I remembered Leorio talking about stories about strange things happening here, but he said they weren’t true.”

“You think he’s wrong?”

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t know. I think he doubts them because he’s never seen them for himself.”

“I win!”

“What?!” Gon looked down at his game to see Princess Peach clapping for Lucario. “No fair! I wasn’t paying attention!”

“Not my fault you got distracted in the middle of a match dummy.” Killua stuck his tongue out at Gon. Gon retaliated by sticking his back.

Killua rolled over so that his stomach was against the bed instead of his back, propping up his head with his hands under his chin.

“What has you asking anyway?”

“You never answered my question.”

“Your question?”

“Mhm. I asked you if you’ve seen anything strange, and you didn’t answer.”

“Oh, so you did.” Killua closed his eyes and though back. “Well, one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen I think was the time I found some weird clown looking guy in my oldest brother’s room? And when I asked Illumi about it he just shrugged like he didn’t know why the guy was there either.”

“A clown?”

“Don’t ask because I don’t know.”

“But, you’ve never seen anything like, supernatural?”

Killua shrugged and looked to the side. “I don’t know. Everything always seemed pretty normal around me with the way I grew up. Growing up in a big mansion with a million butlers relaying your parents’ orders to you with a bunch of annoying siblings was weird in itself. My family is nowhere near normal, I know that. Can that be my answer?”

Gon frowned down at him. “Was it really that bad?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m a spoiled brat and proud of it. I have more toys and games than I know what to do with and my family’s status gives me an amazing amount of authority over people and I can get away with a ton. Sometimes I wish I could have been a little normal and had some friends or something.”

“What about your butlers?”

“Most of them are way older than me, most of them are about as old as my parents. There was this one chick that flat out refused to be my friend when I asked, but I’m pretty sure it was because my mom ordered her not to or something like that.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Yeah,” Killua scoffed. “That’s an understatement when it comes to her. She’s really a horrible person.”

“I’m sorry about that Killua.”

“What was your home life like?”

“Mine?”

“Duh, who else’s would I be asking about? You live with your mom right?”

“Well, yes and no.”

“Huh?”

“Well, Mito isn’t technically my mom. She’s actually my dad’s cousin!”

“Wait… They aren’t like that are they?”

“Like wh- No!! No!”

“Okay good.”

“I don’t know who my real mom is, but I don’t really care. I consider Mito to be my real mom because she raised me.”

“She sounds like a real great person the way you’ve been talking about her.”

“Mito is great! She cooks real great food! If Killua were to come visit she would definitely be happy to make you something!”

“I don’t think I’d be able to sneak away that far before I got caught.”

“Sneak away?”

“Well, I’m not really supposed to leave the mansion.”

“So you snuck out?”

“I know you think it’s bad and you’ll probably reprimand me or some shit-“

“Good.”

“What?”

“It sounds like Killua needs to get away from that. It sounds horrible and stressful.”

“Oh. Well, yeah.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No it’s just… I’m not used to this… people agreeing with me that it’s suffocating. Normally the butlers’ll tell me that my parents are doing what they feel is best for me.”

“If it hurts, I don’t think it’s what’s best for Killua.”

Killua nodded silently and thought in silence for a bit. His brow furrowed and Gon could tell it was taking him a while to process that Gon was really on his side. After a minute Killua’s facial features relaxed and he looked up at Gon.

“Hey, why were you asking me about supernatural shit for real?”

“What do you mean? I told you why.”

“You didn’t tell me why you’re bringing it up now though.”

“Oh, well, I um…” Even with the pillow shielding him it felt like the book was digging at his back.

“Did you see something?”

“Uhm I…” It was starting to hurt a bit.

“Gon, you can trust me.”

Gon breathed in after realizing he hadn’t done that for a while. For some reason he felt more comfortable on this topic with Killua than Kite. Maybe it was because they were the same age. Killua was probably less likely to brush off Gon’s findings as a children’s game. With that in mind Gon reached behind his back and pulled out the journal.

“Well, yesterday, I found this book in the woods behind the house.” He opened it up as he explained. “It has all this cool information on all of these mythological creatures and other weird stuff.”

“Ah is that all?”

“I also saw a Fairy yesterday.”

“A fairy? Ah man those things can be such dicks.”

“Wait, you’ve seen them too!?”

“Well, maybe?”

“That’s so cool! What other things have you seen?!”

“Pipe down! You don’t want that Kite guy to come back up do you?”

“Whoops. I’ll be quiet.”

“Okay.”

“Why’d you avoid the topic before?”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

“Well, now you know I do.”

“Mhm.”

“So, tell me what other things you’ve seen around here!”

“Well, I’ve seen lotsa stuff. There are some Goblins that live inside the trees in the woods. There’s Unicorns, ugh, those guys are even worse than Fairies. I met a Manotaur one time-“

“Don’t you mean a Minotaur?”

“No, a Manotaur. He was like grossly beefy and smelled like axe body spray.”

“What’s a Manotaur?”

“Well, it’s like a Minotaur, but full of testosterone. They have this thing about how to be a real man, but its total gender norm bullshit. I remember the guy said something that got me really angry, but I can’t… remember that well…” Killua brought a hand to his head and rubber at his temples. He was probably getting a headache again.

“I don’t think I wanna meet them.”

“No you do not. They’re all assholes.”

“How were you able to see all these things?”

“Well, magical beings tend to be attracted to other magical or supernatural beings.” Killua moved his hand from his face to reveal a smug look.

“What? Wait, does that mean-“

“Mhmmmmm,” Killua purred.

“Hm, Killua don’t _look_ like a Goblin or a Fairy.”

“That’s because I’m not.”

“What are you then?”

“Wow Gon, I didn’t think you were a racist.”

“Killua~!”

Killua couldn’t help but laugh at Gon’s whining. The boy was desperate for answers.

“Well, my family is made of Wizards. We’re all born with inherent magical ability, some more than others.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. My dad told me that that’s why I’m supposed to be the next head of the household instead of Illumi. Apparently I have more potential or something? More latent ability or whatever? I’d be more surprised that Illumi and Milluki are cool with this if Milluki wasn’t a lazy asshole and Illumi wasn’t obsessed with my wellbeing.”

 “Wow! Killua is so cool!”

“Shut up, you’re embarrassing. Not to mention you’re getting loud again.

“Whoops.”

“But yeah, now you know my secret or whatever. Now you have to tell me one.”

“Wait, is that how it works?”

“Well, yeah. Now give me something. Try and make it juicy.”

“Um, well, uhh… When I was little I used to wet the bed?”

“Ew, I didn’t mean that kind of juicy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [wheezes] my hiatus was longer than anticipated


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn’t the sunlight pouring into the room through the window that woke him up. Killua was used to ignoring that and turning to his side. It wasn’t a butler either, nor was it Illumi or his mom. He would have tried to fight them to get a few more minutes to himself before he let them drag him to whatever dumb lessons they had planned for him.

What woke him up was the light shaking of a strong but gentle hand on his shoulder, along with the smell of breakfast cooking down the stairs. Killua’s eyelids opened slightly as his vision gained focus. Standing over him was a boy with a young but strong tanned face and strangely spiky hair, brown eyes dazzling in the sunlight. Blinking a few times to make sure he wasn’t still asleep, Killua remembered that he’d stayed over at Gon’s house (well, Ging’s house) that night.

The thought of how much trouble he’d be in for doing what he had done to sneak out of the mansion struck his mind, but he pushed it back for the moment.

“Morning!” Gon shouted. Killua winced a bit, not quite adjusted yet for loud noises.

“Hey, how long have you been up?”

“I got up around eight. I’m not that good at sleeping in.”

“Why didn’t you wake me!?”

“Well, Killua looked so peaceful and I would have felt guilty if I woke him up!”

“God you’re such a dork!”

Killua somehow felt like he had gotten a good night’s rest even after sleeping on an inflatable mattress. ‘Guess all those expensive pillows and sheets back at home aren’t all they’re cracked up to be,’ Killua thought to himself.

“Hey do you mind if I borrow a shirt?”

“Hm? Oh yeah go ahead!”

“Cool, thanks!”

It surprised Killua that Gon’s belongings had already been moved into the closet and drawers with the short amount of time he’d been in town. Of course it did make things easier for Killua since it’d be awkward to dig through Gon’s luggage. In the closet Gon’s shirts were all hung on hangers, Killua grabbing the one that seemed the most comfortable. Pulling his head through the neck hole, Killua realized Gon had asked him a question and he turned to the other boy.

“What did you say?”

“I asked if you wanted any eggs.”

“Oh, definitely!”

“Is scrambled okay?”

“Yeah that’s great. Thanks!”

“I have to get back downstairs to make sure nothing’s burning, so I’ll see you when you come down!”

“Alright,” Killua said as Gon ran out of the room. He could hear the pattering of bare feet against the wood of the stairs as Gon rushed downstairs. After standing there for a moment Killua realized how gross his mouth felt. Blowing air into his hand to smell just how bad it was, he realized it smelled absolutely terrible.

The bathroom was just down the hall, just as it was last night. As he stepped in he saw three different toothbrushes. One was battery powered, another looked as if it had never even been used before. The third one, Killua guessed, belonged to Gon. The thought was confirmed when he found Gon’s name written on the handle in black sharpie. Whichever toothpaste was closest was squeezed onto the bristles before he began absent mindedly scrubbing his teeth.

His mind kept drifting to Gon’s opinions of his family based on what Killua had said. Even though Killua had been acting pretty nonchalantly about it Gon took things way more seriously. It wasn’t that big of deal though. It was just how his family was. They cared for him in some way, didn’t they? They can just be annoying and paranoid. That’s all there is to it. Venting isIt made Killua feel kind of bad for talking about them that way. They couldn’t help being overbearing, could they?

Time and time again Killua would always come to terms with the reason for his family treating him the way they do being because of his own faults and tendencies. Whenever Killua really acted out, Illumi would always tell him that. But it didn’t stop him from having his own differing opinions.

Even while rinsing out his mouth, something still tasted sour.

 ***

By the time Killua got downstairs Gon had finished making breakfast and had started cleaning the pans. Everything sat on the table, prepared in the common way Killua had seen on television. A platter of bacon, another of pancakes, a bowl of cut up fruit, eggs on his plate and a glass of orange juice near his place setting, complete with silverware. Gon had probably grown tired of waiting for Killua to finish getting ready and started to clean up. Killua felt a knot in his throat, feeling guilty for taking so long. Pushing his earlier thoughts from his head, Killua walked towards the table. Gon didn’t need to know about them.

“Man it smells great in here. You make this all yourself?”

Gon finished scrubbing the last pan and rinsed it out. “Yeah, Kite leaves before I wake up and I’m not even sure Ging has even been home since I got here.”

“That’s kind of sad.”

“Not really. I like cooking. It reminds me of being home with Aunt Mito.”

“I can’t cook for shit,” Killua commented, plopping into one the chair and piling more food onto his plate. He tried his best to return the favor and be patient enough not to eat before Gon sat down with him, but he couldn’t help but feel his mouth water.

“No one ever taught you?” Gon was done drying everything at this point and began walking over to Killua’s satisfaction.

“Well, having a bunch of chefs on call whenever you want a snack didn’t really leave me the need to learn.” As soon as Gon touched his chair Killua shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth with one hand and squirted ketchup onto his eggs with the other.

“That’s true. We couldn’t really afford to hire a chef so we were left to cook our own meals.”

“Ah, hard labor. That must have been horrible.”

“It can be relaxing though! I could maybe teach Killua.”

“Nah, I think I’ll pass for now. Maybe another time though.”

Gon shoveled some eggs into his mouth. It was taking them a lot of strength not to race each other again, but after what happened the day before at the diner, they both found a way to restrict themselves.

“Hey Killua?”

“Hmff?” Killua’s response was muffled behind the orange juice he was chugging.

“Would you wanna go on an adventure today?”

“Mmf?” He swallowed before continuing. “Adventure? What d’ya mean?”

“Well, I wanna see more of the things Killua has seen. More of the things in the journal. I think it’ll be fun to try and see if over the summer we can find everything in there. Maybe write in some stuff the author missed in there too.”

“I guess that sounds interesting. Are you sure you’re up for that? It could get a little dangerous. Now that I think about it though, you don’t seem like a wuss.”

“We could also try bringing Leorio along too.”

“Why do you wanna bring him? Wouldn’t it be easier if it was just the two of us?”

“Well, Leorio’s so skeptical about these things. I thought maybe it’d be fun seeing the look on his face when we find something in the book.”

Killua thought for a second. That would be really funny, but he wasn’t sure that this was a good idea.

“Killua c’mon! It’ll be fun!”

“Okay fine, on one condition! If Leorio says no we’re gonna leave him behind.”

“Alright.”

The two finished eating and put their plates in the sink. Gon assured him that he could clean them later. After leaving the house and locking the door, the journal zipped up inside Gon’s backpack, they began walking towards town. Gon told Killua that Leorio would probably be in town since it was a Saturday and that they’d be able to find him without too much trouble.

Killua hesitated as Gon started down the road, staring after him. Even during the early hours of the morning when the weather was cool, something had him feeling warm.


	9. Chapter 9

“Remember, if he says no, then we don’t push it.”

“I understand!”

They’d finally made it to town and began their search for Leorio. Since neither of them knew what his plans were for that day, they had no idea where to begin looking. Already they’d found themselves in a setback. Walking all over town, they adamantly tried to find him, peering through the windows of the different buildings they passed along the way. Block after block, Killua got more and more frustrated, Gon continuing to assure him that it wouldn’t be that hard to find their target; that the town was pretty small compared to some places.

“You know, since it’s the weekend he’s probably at home,” Killua suggested.

“Ah that’s true! Why don’t we go to his house?”

“Because we don’t know where he lives.”

“Oh yeah.”

Killua sighed as the search persisted. They were running out of area to cover and Gon was still determined. After another ten minutes, Gon’s shouting caught Killua off guard. Head whipping around, he saw Gon pointing to someone on the other side of the street, then waving Killua to follow him as he ran over.

“Did you find him?”

“No!”

“Then where are you taking us?”

“I found someone else!”

Through a small pack of people they found a familiar blonde walking out of the convenience store, book open in one hand and a drink in the other. Hearing loud footsteps coming his way put Kurapika on alert; eyes darting up from his literature, feet taking a step backwards as if threatened. Relief washed over his face when he saw that it was just Gon and Killua.

“Hey Kurapika!” Gon yelled.

“Hello Gon. Killua. How are you two?”

“Pissed off.” Killua slowed to a halt while fixing a hand to his hip.

“Oh? What’s the problem?”

“We’re looking for Leorio but we can’t find him,” Gon pouted.

“Well,” Kurapika thought for a second, “It’s possible that he’s at the show down by the lake.”

“Show?”

“Yeah. Some local magician performing for free.”

“If it’s free he’s definitely there,” Gon mused.

“I’m actually on my way over if you boys wanted to tag along.”

“You’re actually interested?” A groan made its way out of Killua’s throat. ”It’s probably some fake stuff.”

“All the more reason to go in my opinion. I figured it would be interesting to try and figure out how this guy was really performing his tricks. Though it would be pleasant if it were the real deal.”

“It’s most likely gonna be a fraud.”

“C’mon Killua don’t be a downer. Let’s go!” Gon grabbed Killua’s hand and pulled him along, trailing behind Kurapika. The lake wasn’t too far from the store. Soon the group came across a crowded audience standing in front of a small stage near the dock. The structure of the stage seemed old and worn from use by different performers and other people over time. This however did not detract from the excitement of a show. In fact, it made it more interesting as it showed that the stage had a history behind it.

Gon’s nose caught a familiar scent in the breeze, causing him to take the lead while still towing Killua behind him. Killua and Kurapika shared a look of confusion, both silently asking if the other knew what was on Gon’s mind.

“I can smell Leorio’s cologne.” Either Gon had heard their mute question or simply decided to share his thought process with them.

“From here?” Killua asked.

“Mhm. I have a good nose! Plus he uses something really strong and easy to recognize.”

“Oh, so he wears Axe.”

Gon lead the other two straight through the audience toward Leorio, who was standing closer to the front. Through his peripherals, Leorio recognized them and turned to face them. He waved for them to join him, smiling wide.

“I was hoping I’d see you guys here!”

“We’ve been looking for you all over Leorio!” Gon stated.

“Really? I didn’t know! You should have texted me!”

“Wait, you had his number this whole time?” Killua gave a slight glare to the boy next to him.

“Hehe, I forgot. I’m not really good at texting.”

“Whatever. We found him now so we can ask him now.”

“Ask me what?” asked Leorio.

Gon whined. “Can’t it wait until after the show?”

“I told you, it’s probably going to be a fake and it’ll be a waste of time!... And you can.. let go of my hand now you know…”

“Sorry!”

“No it’s…fine…”

“Hey,” Kurapika started. “Did you happen to know who this magician is?”

“Ah yeah. He actually does shows a few times a year here. I don’t know if he actually lives here though.” Leorio rubbed at his chin in contemplation. “A lot of the guys’ shows are free but people offer to give him tips and things. Aside from that I don’t know much about him.”

“What about his name?”

“I think his name is Hisoka.”

Killua’s jaw dropped. “Oh god, no.”

Before anyone could ask Killua what was wrong, the show started. Bright red hair was the first noticeable feature of the figure that walked onto the stage. The way he dressed was different from the rest of those in town, probably a costume, along with the way he did his makeup; a tear drop on one cheek and a star on the other. Seemingly very used to the attention of being on stage, he was not bothered at all by the stares and clapping of the people below.

“It’s nice to be up here again,” Hisoka cooed. “The people of Gravity Falls are always so lovely. I actually feel somewhat homesick whenever I leave. It’s good to see all of your faces!”

A sly smile painted on his face, his eyes pierced the audience. It was reminiscent to a predator surveying his prey.

“Now, for my first trick, I’ll do something simple and familiar. How about a little card trick? I have a deck right here.” With a flick of his wrist, he produced an unopened deck of cards from thin air, sticker still intact. Placing it on the table beside him he continued to speak. “Before I do anything I’ll show you I don’t have anything up my sleeves or hidden on my person. Don’t want you all to think I’m cheating you now do I?” He pushed up the sleeves of his jacket and rubbed the skin of his left arm, and then his right. There seemed to be too much of a grip on the right arm, and-

_POP_

The audience screamed, though a good many of them probably weren’t scared for real, figuring it was just a show.

“Whoops,” Hisoka said as he held his right arm in his left hand. There was no blood, and he didn’t let the audience see the severed parts of his arm as if protecting them from gore. “Well this is not good. I can’t properly shuffle a deck with one hand.” The audience laughed, obviously not finding the situation scary anymore.

Everyone’s attention turned back to Hisoka after that. “Well, this is useless now,” he said as he threw the limb behind him. The arm disappeared behind the curtain as he went on. “The good thing about being a magician however, is that you always have an ace up your sleeve.”

With his good hand, he pulled off his jacket in one smooth motion, throwing that to the side. To everyone’s surprise, Hisoka somehow had both of his arms back, his right arm holding an ace between his fingers.

“Would you believe this is the Ace of Spades from this unopened deck?”

The crowd murmured in uncertainty.

The card was placed on the table, where everyone could see it, and the deck was picked up. Hisoka removed the sticker and shook the cards out, immediately finding the other three aces because it had yet to be shuffled. When he showed them to the audience and proved there was no other ace hidden in the deck the crowd went wild. Gon was clapping in amazement, and even Killua raised an eyebrow.

“Now how about that first trick?” Hisoka joked. “Actually I think that’s enough with the cards for today. It’d be tragic to end up losing a foot over them as well, now wouldn’t it?

The crowd was eating his act up. There was a reason that Hisoka seemed to get large crowds whenever he performed. He didn’t settle for simple tricks. He tried his best to shock his viewers.

“I know I don’t normally ask this but I would actually like the participation of an assistant for this next one.” His eyes darted at Gon, and in that second Gon felt Killua’s hand grip his hand tight. “You’re a rather unfamiliar face in this crowd, how about you come up and help me out, hmm~?”

Before Gon could react, Killua pushed Gon to Leorio and walked up to the stage. Hisoka’s smile faltered for the slightest fraction of a second with this. Gon thought that it might have been too quick from anyone else to notice.

“Well then, you’re one of the Zoldycks, aren’t you?” Hisoka was very good at hiding his annoyance.

“Yeah, I decided to leave the house. Shocker I know.” Killua shoved his hands in his pockets, looking as bored as he could force himself. He was good, but not as good of an actor as Hisoka.

“And what is your name?”

“…Killua…”

“Nice name.” Hisoka pulled out a large box, big enough to fit a male adult inside. It was lifted on metal legs with wheels on the bottom, making easier to lug around. Once that was in place, he pulled a step stool out in front of it. The sides of the box were probably made of plastic, as they were translucent.

“Now for this trick, I’m going to ask you to step inside of this.” Hisoka knocked on the wall of the box, a hollow noise echoing inside. He lifted the flap in the front, gesturing for Killua to climb in. Killua did as instructed, not letting his eyes leave the magician, making sure he didn’t do anything funny. Once inside, Killua sat down facing the audience. Just watching Killua inside of there made Gon claustrophobic as Hisoka put the flap back down.

“Next, I need you to stick your hand through that hole,” Hisoka pointed to a hole that was in the front flap. Once Killua stuck his hand through, Hisoka threw a cover over the entire box, pulling Killua’s hand through a slit in the fabric.

“You can still hear me, can you Killua?”

“It’s fabric. Not a brick wall.”

The audience seemed to enjoy Killua’s sarcasm, laughter erupting with every snarky comment.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” Producing another sheet of fabric, Hisoka put one corner of it in Killua’s grip. “Now keep on holding this. Don’t let go or this won’t work.”

From the groan, Gon figured that Killua was very much tempted to ruin things for the magician but had decided against it.

“Now, I’ll be holding this end,” Hisoka explained as he walked away from Killua’s box. “And I’ll hold it up at the same height as little Killua over there.”

A scoff from behind the sheet.

Hisoka held up his side up, the sheet being big enough to cover his entire height. All that was visible of him and Killua were their hands.

“Now,” Hisoka continued, “neither of us are letting go of the sheet, and neither of us are moving. But when we put it down…” The sheet dropped to the floor. In Hisoka’s place was a wide eyed, silent Killua standing on the step stool. The hand sticking out of the hole in the box ripped off the cover, revealing that Hisoka was now the inhabitant inside. The flap opened and he jumped out. “Without either of us moving, we’ve switched places.”

The audience loved it, applauding and cheering. No one had seen a trick like that before. Kurapika and Leorio were clapping mildly for the same reason Gon didn’t clap at all. Killua looked shaken and scared standing on the step stool. He had to be prompted down and off the stage by Hisoka, Gon running over to grab Killua and walk him over to the group.

None of them paid attention to the rest of the show, more interested in Killua’s wellbeing. Leorio continually asked Killua if the guy had done anything to make him uncomfortable when they switched places (however Hisoka had even managed to do that), if there was any awkward interaction. After a while, Kurapika moved the four of them to a better place than at the front of the stage to have this scene.

Gon didn’t let go of Killua’s hand as he heard Killua mutter under his breath “fucking asshole.”

They didn’t notice when the show ended and the crowd began dispersing. The four of them had relocated to a picnic table, Killua finally regaining his cool.

“Are you okay now Killua?” Gon asked him.

“Yeah. I just hate the guy.”

“You know him,” Kurapika’s surprise showing in his face.

“Yeah. Gon, do you remember what I told you last night? About the clown guy that hangs out with my brother?”

“Oh, you meant Hisoka?!”

“Yeah. He can be super creepy.”

“You made it sound like you didn’t know him at all when you talked about him last night.”

“Well, I don’t know him at all. All I know is that he and my brother have some weird relationship. To me, he’s just some… clown.”

“I’m sorry I got you put in that situation Killua.”

“You didn’t do anything, dummy,” Killua rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t trust him to not be a dick to you.”

“Aw, Killua cares about me!”

“You’re so embarrassing!”

Leorio pushed his glasses up his nose and sighed. “Well I’m glad to see you’re somewhat back to normal. Wait, didn’t you guys have a question for me?”

“Oh yeah!” Gon shouted. “We wanted to ask you to come on an adventure with us!”

Leorio couldn’t keep from showing his amusement. “An adventure, huh?”

“Yeah, Killua and I are gonna go exploring in the woods for something special.”

“Am I supposed to ask what this special thing is?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay then. What is the special thing?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Ah, you got me there.”

“So you wanna come?”

“I don’t think I should, and I’m not sure you should either.” Gon and Killua looked at each other and Leorio continued. “I’m not exactly dressed for something like that, and it can be dangerous out there. You guys might get in trouble with a rabid animal and not be able to defend youself.”

“Oh come one Leorio! I could be fun!”

“Gon I thought we said that if he said no we’d leave him.”

“You two shouldn’t go either!” Leorio huffed.

“Kite was okay with me doing it the other day.”

“That is very irresponsible of him then.”

“Come on Gon, let’s go,” Killua began trying to walk off, still holding Gon’s hand.

Gon pouted as he was dragged, a simple “fine” uttered.

“Wait, you two shouldn’t be going off on your own!” Leorio yelled after them.

“So you’ll come?” Gon asked, eyes lighting up.

“Only to make sure you two don’t get hurt.”

“I’m coming too,” Kurapika called.

“Really Kurapika!” Gon was very happy with the predicament. Killua not so much.

“Yes. I want to make sure that Leorio doesn’t get hurt either.”

“That’s rude,” Leorio accused. “I thought you trusted me now!”

“I trust that you aren’t a terrible person. You still have yet to prove yourself capable of fighting off a bear.”

“Oh, is that what it takes to win your heart?”

“Not funny.”

 

 ***

 

From behind the stage, Hisoka dialed a number on his phone and brought it to his ear. It took a few rings before the person on the other end picked up, a deep voiced man asking who was calling and on what business.

“Oh hello~ Mr. Gotoh. Can you put me on with Illumi please~? I have some information for him that I think he’d be _ever_ so interested in."


	10. Chapter 10

“How far are you gonna go before telling us what we’re doing!”

Killua and Gon were far in the lead, Kurapika following close behind. Leorio was repeatedly getting caught on small plants and rocks, yelling complaints from the far back. He muttered about how he shouldn’t have worn a suit today before he stepped into a small hole, stumbling against a tree. A swear was uttered under his breath while he tried to regain his balance.

“I would like to know what your plans are as well,” Kurapika said, managing to avoid pitfalls and snags with grace. A small shriek came from behind; probably Leorio landing in another ditch.

“Well if I tell you now, it won’t be as interesting!” Gon was excitedly half jogging around obstacles as he spoke, Killua casually hopping from rock to stump to rock nearby.

“And by that he means it’s easier to show than tell,” Killua added.

The group walked for a few minutes more before having to stop and wait for Leorio to catch up, not wanting him completely separated from the rest. Huffing out a half breath of air, Kurapika turned and backtracked to Leorio to give him assistance. Gon took the break as a chance to pull the journal out of his bag, flipping through the pages. Looking over Gon’s shoulder, Killua was silently impressed with how large and detailed the entries were.

“Is there anything in particular you want us to try and find?” Killua asked.

Gon continued perusing the pages. He pointed his finger at one of the pages showing a creature that could change their image from that of a human to that of a giant spider.

“What about an Arachnimorph?”

Killua grimaced. “Maybe we should start with something a little less....murdery.”

“I’m sure we’d be fine.”

Killua snagged the book and flipped through the pages himself. “How about this?” He presented a page that included an illustration of a gnome.

“I feel like I’ve seen those in my nightmares.”

“I know they look weird but they’re normally harmless.”

“Normally?”

“As long as we don’t do anything to provoke them we should be fine. And look, there’s a little map there that tells us where they live so we don’t have to rely on my shitty memory.”

“Fine,” Gon complied, trying to figure out exactly where they were on said map. Leorio and Kurapika had finally caught back up, Leorio looking a lot more irritable than usual. Sadly, he only got a minute to rest before Gon was half-jogging again, sure of the direction he was supposed to be going. Kurapika couldn’t keep from laughing slightly as Leorio groaned loudly, trying his best to keep up with the pace. As they continued on their way, Kurapika caught a glimpse of the book in Gon’s hands. Before he could completely connect what Gon was doing, Leorio asked the question he would have.

“Are you using that thing to navigate us?” Well, Kurapika would have phrased it a little more eloquently.

Killua answered for Gon, saying, “Kinda, yeah.”

“But you’re not gonna tell us where you’re taking us?”

“Nope!”

Gon stopped abruptly, looking around and then back at the journal. It looked right according to what was drawn, but there was a distinct lack of Gnomes around the area. He frowned, staring harder at the page, before feeling a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into Killua’s eyes.

“You aren’t wrong. I’m pretty sure this is it.”

“How do you know?”

Kurapika walked up to them, looking up into one of the nearby trees. “Gnasty’s?”

Gon followed Kurapika’s line of sight and saw the sign overhead hanging over the door. In the journal, the name “Gnasty’s” was allocated to one of the trees on the map. That mean that Killua was right.

“What is this place?” Leorio huffed as he caught up again.

“It’s a bar,” Killua explained.

“The door is so small.”

“Well it’s not really for humans.”

“What else would it be for? Is it for ants? Is it a bar for ants?”

“Bigger than that at least,” Killua said as he started heading toward the door. Crouching down, he entered with Gon in tow. Kurapika shot a glance to Leorio, shrugged, and followed after them. As the tallest in the group, Leorio had extreme difficulty getting inside. When merely crouching failed to make him small enough, he got onto his hands and knees, cussing about how he didn’t know how he was going to get the grass stains out of his pants. As he got onto all fours, he was stopped by what he could see inside.

Lots of really tiny people. A whole lot of them. The all had beards and weird pointy hats. Leorio was afraid to enter.

Gon sat in a seat by the little counter as Killua did, noticing that Leorio still had not come in. He raised an eyebrow before calling out to him.

“Leorio! Come on and join us!”

“You know what, I’m fine out here.”

“Suit yourself,” Killua scoffed, resting his elbow against the counter.

“Do you want us to… bring you anything?” Kurapika asked.

“Since this is probably a dream, maybe you could ask if they have any of those little ‘Shrink Me’ potions!”

“Leorio we’re in Gravity Falls, not Wonderland.”

“Whatever! I’m just going to sit out here and wait for the little rabbit with the watch to hop by!”

Kurapika sighed, arms crossing in front of his chest. Even if Leorio wasn’t a total jerk, he was still annoyingly stubborn at times. Though Kurapika had to admit that he probably was no better. He could be pretty stubborn himself.

“Ooh here are some new faces,” the bartender exclaimed as he walked over, drying out the inside of a glass with a towel. He looked similar to the other patrons of the bar with a few distinguishing characteristics such as the wrinkles in his hat and the apron he wore. “It’s nice when new people come ‘round here. Can I getcha anything?”

“What’cha got that’s strong?” Killua asked.

“Killua!” Kurapika began reprimanding, but the bartender held up his hand, effectively cutting Kurapika off.

“Calm your tits man, I can handle it, you don’t have to worry,” Killua laughed.

“Well, I dunno know what you’re allowed to do at home or not, but ya seem pretty young fer what I know about yer kind. I wouldn’t want yer folks to get upset and start anything up, so hows bout we do something light, hm?” The bartender gave quick wink and raised an eyebrow, Killua scoffing in response but saying no more. The remark the bartender made seemed innocent enough, but Gon thought that it was implying that he knew who Killua’s parents were.

“Is there anything else you would like?”

“Ughh, do you have any milk or something then?”

“Oh we have a bunch of kinds of milk. We have some milked from goats, some milked from platypi, some milked from butter, some milked from centaurs, some milked from unicorns- The unicorn milk will cost extra because hoowee that was a painful experience I tell you.”

“What about cow’s milk?”

“What’s a cow?”

“…”

“…”

“I’ll have the goat milk.”

“What about you with the tall hair?”

“I’ll have the same!” Gon yelled.

“Alrighty, two goat milks. What about you over there? Would you like something?” The bartender looked to Kurapika.

“Oh, I’ll just have a glass of water please.”

“That all? Ya sure?”

“I am quite positive. Thank you.”

“Alrighty, just gimme a sec and I’ll get ya that water.”

“Leorio, are you sure you don’t want us to bring you something?”

“Sorry! I’m lucid dreaming and I’m trying to figure out how to make myself do dream things.”

“Suit yourself,” Kurapika rolled his eyes. He seemed to be uneasy all of a sudden, possibly because it was so small and claustrophobic inside the bar to him. As the bartender went to work getting their drinks prepared, Kurapika found a small table in the corner off the building and sat in one of the toadstool chairs as best he could. It looked to Gon like Kurapika stopped halfway doing a squat the way he was crouched.

Interested in the creatures around him, Gon pulled the journal out again, the bookmark having kept his place on the entry on Gnomes. The pages opened up and he immediately immersed himself in the information presented, becoming half alert to what was going on around him. He was oblivious to the stare of Killua next to him, who was feeling somewhat captivated by Gon’s determination and curiosity, somewhat fond of the way Gon looked as he read.

Killua was snapped to reality by the sound of the bartender’s drawl, jerking his head to face the gnome as he spoke. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“I just mentioned that it’s mighty rare to get folk like you around here.” Two glasses were pulled out from under the counter. The rag he held was used to clean them out before he walked over to the fridge to begin his search for the goat’s milk. A jar or rainbow, iridescent liquid caught Killua’s eye, making him wonder if that was the unicorn milk mentioned earlier.

“What of it? Is there a problem?”

“Oh no, not at all!” He retrieved the goat milk and came back to the counter. “Was just wonderin’ what brought ya’ll to our little bar.”

“None of your business.”

“Now, big guy, no need for that. I’m just trying to have some friendly conversation, is all!”

“Hmph.”

“Hmph?”

“I just wanted to show the others around is all.”

“Ah, that’s awful nice a ya, bringing your friends around.”

“My friends…”

The bartender cocked an eyebrow as he finished pouring, giving a light push to send the glasses to both Killua and Gon. Killua swiped his quickly. He wondered if Gon would look up from the book as the glass came towards the edge, but was amazed at how at the last second Gon caught it without tearing his eyes from the book.

At that moment, the sound of the door opening was heard, and many of the Gnomes started yelling to the newcomer. Without looking up, Killua could hear the light patter as they approached the counter.

“Hey there Jeff!” The bartender exclaimed his excitement to see him. “How’re ya doin today?”

“Hey Bud,” Jeff sighed as he sat at the counter, a few seats separating him from Killua. “Kind of rough if I’m being honest.”

“The search not going so well?” Bud pulled out another glass, most likely for Kurapika’s water.

Killua drank some of his milk, side eyeing the two Gnomes before Gon began elbowing him to get his attention. “What is it?”

“The guy that wrote this thinks that Gnomes have something to hide under their hats! Apparently no one would remove their hats when he asked and he even got bitten when he tried to take one off by force!”

“That’s dumb of him. They were probably just fucking with him or something.”

“But what if he’s right and they have weird shaped heads! Or hide food in there.”

“That’s- I’ve never thought of that before.”

“I see we have some non-Gnomes here,” Jeff, noted, smiling at Killua and Gon. Gon smiled back before downing the last of his milk. Killua merely stared. “Should I guess that you’re with the guy that was asleep outside?”

“Yeah, he refused to come in,” Killua said.

“What are your names?”

“I’m Killua, that’s Gon, Leorio is the guy outside, and Kurapika is back there,” he pointed his thumb behind him towards the table that Kurapika sat in.

Jeff followed where Killua pointed, smiling. “Seems awful lonely over there. Hey, is that water for them?”

“Yep,” Bud confirmed.

“Mind if I bring it over for you?”

“Be my guest, boss!”

Jeff took the glass and walked over to the table where Kurapika sat. Kurapika seemed to become more uncomfortable than before with Jeff’s presence, but attempted to be polite and not reject him right away.

“Kind of forceful, isn’t he? That Jeff guy.”

“He’s our leader,” Bud noted. “I guess being forceful is in his job description.”

“So what exactly has he been trying to do that hasn’t been going well?”

“Well, we’ve been needing ourselves a new queen for a while now.”

“A queen?”

“Yeah, Jeff’s been trying to find a good candidate but so far he hasn’t had much luck.”

“Is there not a lot of gnome girls out there or something?”

“Gnome girls?” Bud leaned against the counter. “Jeff has actually been looking at other species. He’s trying to bring in an outsider’s eye to try and help us out and improve things around here.”

“Is that so…” Killua downed the rest of his drink before jumping onto his feet, slamming money onto the counter to cover the bill. “Gon come on, put your book away. We need to get going.

“Awww but things were getting interesting!” Gon replaced the bookmarker before jumping down next to Killua.

“Kurapika! You too, we need to go!”

With a look of relief, Kurapika gave his excuses to Jeff as he got up from his table to join the younger boys as they began walking out.

“I’m sorry,” Jeff said, standing up himself, “But I can’t let you leave.”

“What do you mean by that?” Gon asked, head cocked to the side.

“Well, you and the other kid can go, along with your friend outside. Kurapika needs to stay here.”

“Excuse me!?” Kurapika looked both confused, scared, and annoyed at the same time. “And why not?”

“Well, because you’re gonna be our new queen.”


End file.
